Danvers native Gary Larrabee puts a wrap on the Senior Open as its media liaison

Wednesday

Jul 5, 2017 at 4:06 PMJul 5, 2017 at 4:07 PM

By Gary Larrabee

Another – and possibly last – major golf championship to come to the North Shore has now departed.

Farewell, 2017 U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club; the sixth United States Golf Association (USGA) championship to come to the fabled Peabody course, spanning 85 years and the second U.S. Senior Open in 16 years.

You gave us another great show this past week: record low scores, glorious weather, a vastly improved championship operationally benefiting the fans and one last look – maybe another to come in 15 years, but unlikely – at some of the game’s greats now in their "senior" competitive years.

Fan favorites Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer at the halfway mark gave us hope for an historic finish Sunday between two all-time special players, but their uneventful Saturday rounds proved lethal. At the end of Saturday’s action, the $4 million ($720,000 for the winner) national championship had boiled down to Kentuckian Kenny Perry and "it-sure-looks-like-his-week" Kirk Triplett, which made the final 18 almost anti-climactic for those seeking a classic Langer-Couples showdown.

Perry, however, is a worthy champion, even if his name was not Langer or Couples.

The highly rated Salem Country Club course, superbly groomed for 37 years by superintendent Kip Tyler, looked fabulous in person and on worldwide Fox-TV.

General Chairman Bill Sheehan and his staff of hundreds, supported by 2,000 volunteers, functioned for seven days without a major hitch.

The biggest winner, besides Perry, of course, was the North Shore populace. Close to 1,000 people associated with the championship visited for a week or more, enjoying our accommodations, eating at our best restaurants, checking out our famous tourist sites and either learning or being reminded if they were here for the 2001 U.S. Senior Open what a special place our North Shore is to live in and play golf.

The bottom line, of course, is that the membership of Salem Country Club, for the sixth time since 1932, invited the USGA to bring one of its national championships – the 38th annual Senior Open – to their beloved property off Forest Street and open it up to the American golfing public.

Last year, the tournament was outside Columbus, Ohio. Next year, it will visit the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado.

"It’s a thrill and an honor to have our club bring a U.S. Senior Open to the North Shore and Greater Boston," Sheehan has said repeatedly the last few years, while preparing for the big week just past.

"Our members have always believed, with such an exceptional Donald Ross course, that we should share it with the golf community at-large for championship competition. So we’re delighted we’ve been able to bring thousands upon thousands of golf fans into our home to watch the U.S. Senior Open."

The only remaining question is whether another USGA Championship will visit the North Shore. The USGA would love to conduct one of its 13 championships at Myopia Hunt Club in Hamilton, site of four of the first 18 U.S. Opens. But the Myopia leadership has not been able to reach an agreement with executive director Mike Davis and his USGA team.

A few whispers suggest Essex County Club is in preliminary talks with the LPGA about hosting a Solheim Cup, the professional women golfers’ version of the Ryder Cup.

The USGA this week made it clear that it would like to return to Salem for another national championship. But the smart money does not think there will be a third U.S. Senior Open. Instead, more than likely, a Junior or Senior amateur title event might be on the horizon, all in good time.

Danvers native Gary Larrabee served as Championship Media Liaison for the 2017 U.S. Senior Open, the same position he held for the 2001 event, also at Salem.